India has grown dramatically for Apple, says Philip Schiller

Apple's senior vice-president of worldwide marketing Philip Schiller talks about how they want to offer the best for Indian customers and developers. He says, "We have a large base of developers here in India. The software talent is remarkable and the entrepreneurial spirit is second to none."Shilpa Phadnis | TNN | April 01, 2017, 08:15 IST

BENGALURU: Apple's senior vice-president of worldwide marketing Philip Schiller was one of Steve Jobs's closest friends, and a product keynoter. He came up with the spinwheel interface for iPods, led the digital music revolution with iPod and iTunes, and helped reinvent mobile phones with the iPhone and the App Store. Schiller, who reports now to CEO Tim Cook, was in Bengaluru on Friday--his first trip to India--for the launch of the company's App Accelerator, a platform that will support iOS developers on design, quality and performance of their apps. In an interview with TOI, Schiller talks about how they want to offer the best for Indian customers and developers.

When did India show up on Apple's radar?Philip Schiller: Hard to say to a day. Over the last few years, it's grown dramatically in importance to us.This is a very exciting change, we see the opportunity for a huge market and a very young population and we want to be important here. We want to make products that this market loves. Our driving ambition in every market is to be the best, and not the cheapest, with whatever that means to customers. In India, we want to be the best provider of the things we do. We have started asking ourselves what it means to be the best in India--how is it like other markets and how is it different. Distribution can be different, network infrastructure is different.

How are you tapping into India's vibrant developer base?Philip Schiller: We have a large base of developers here in India. The software talent is remarkable and the entrepreneurial spirit is second to none. Our rough estimate is just under half a million registered developers and if you include the extended number of people that are working with them on their apps, that should be some where around three quarters of a million people in the iOS app economy . We want to help them be more successful in the local market and there is a great opportunity for developers in India through our App Store to reach to the world.We want to use things that Apple is good at to assist these developers, like user interface design, we also want to give them our knowledge of the latest tech, the new frameworks and the new APIs.

You were one of Steve Jobs's closest colleagues. How did you deal with the pressure?Philip Schiller: Steve was a truly remarkable person and a great mentor for all of us at Apple. Over the years, he worked hard to put in place people and a system to try to keep alive the spirit of the company he founded. And I would like to think that still matters to all of us who work at Apple.

What's the next big thing for Apple?Philip Schiller: We are really excited about the work we are doing with Homekit and IoT (internet of things). Our homes are going to get smarter and smarter.We are working with content creators so that Apple TV not only provides a great experience, but apps on the phone work together with Apple TV so that it knows what you really like to watch.

The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) pulled up Bharti Airtel and Vodafone Idea for warning subscribers of certain plans that their SIM cards would be deactivated if they do not recharge their pre-paid accounts though these subscribers had the minimum required balance.